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Tag: Iran

  • The US Could Finally Ban Inane Forced Password Changes

    The US Could Finally Ban Inane Forced Password Changes

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    Researchers found a vulnerability in a Kia web portal that allowed them to track millions of cars, unlock doors, honk horns, and even start engines in seconds, just by reading the car’s license plate. The findings are the latest in a string of web bugs that have impacted dozen of carmakers. Meanwhile, a handful of Tesla Cybertrucks have been outfitted for war and are literally being-battle tested by Chechen forces fighting in Ukraine as part of Russia’s ongoing invasion.

    As Israel escalates its attacks on Lebanon, civilians on both sides of the conflict have been receiving ominous text messages—and authorities in each country are accusing the other of psychological warfare. The US government has increasingly condemned Russia-backed media outlets like RT for working closely with Russian intelligence—and many digital platforms have removed or banned their content. But they’re still influential and trusted alternative sources of information in many parts of the world.

    And there’s more. Each week, we round up the privacy and security news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

    A new draft of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology’s “Digital Identity Guidelines” finally takes steps to eliminate reviled password management practices that have been shown to do more harm than good. The recommendations, which will be mandatory for US federal government entities and serve as guidelines for everyone else, ban the practice of requiring users to periodically change their account passwords, often every 90 days.

    The policy of regularly changing passwords evolved out of a desire to ensure that people weren’t choosing easily guessable or reused passwords; but in practice, it causes people to choose simple or formulaic passwords so they will be easier to keep track of. The new recommendations also ban “composition rules,” like requiring a certain number or mix of capital letters, numbers, and punctuation marks in each password. NIST writes in the draft that the goal of the Digital Identity Guidelines is to provide “foundational risk management processes and requirements that enable the implementation of secure, private, equitable, and accessible identity systems.”

    The US Department of Justice unsealed charges on Friday against three Iranian men who allegedly compromised Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and leaked stolen data to media outlets. Microsoft and Google warned last month that an Iranian state-sponsored hacking group known as APT42 had targeted both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump presidential campaigns, and successfully breached the Trump campaign. The DOJ claims the hackers compromised a dozen people as part of its operation, including a journalist, a human rights advocate, and several former US officials. More broadly, the US government has said in recent weeks that Iran is attempting to interfere in the 2024 election.

    “The defendants’ own words made clear that they were attempting to undermine former President Trump’s campaign in advance of the 2024 U.S. presidential election,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference on Friday. “We know that Iran is continuing with its brazen efforts to stoke discord, erode confidence in the US electoral process, and advance its malign activities.”

    The Irish Data Protection Commission fined Meta €91 million, or roughly $101 million, on Friday for a password storage lapse in 2019 that violated the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Following a report by Krebs on Security, the company acknowledged in March 2019 that a bug in its password management systems had caused hundreds of millions of Facebook, Facebook Lite, and Instagram passwords to be stored without protection in plaintext in an internal platform. Ireland’s privacy watchdog launched its investigation into the incident in April 2019.

    “It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in plaintext, considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data,” Irish DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement. “It must be borne in mind that the passwords, the subject of consideration in this case, are particularly sensitive, as they would enable access to users’ social media accounts.”

    The digital anonymity nonprofit the Tor Project is merging with privacy- and anonymity-focused Linux-based operating system Tails. Pavel Zoneff, the Tor Project’s communications director, wrote in a blog post on Thursday that the move will facilitate collaboration and reduce costs, while expanding both groups’ reach. “Tor and Tails provide essential tools to help people around the world stay safe online,” he wrote. “By joining forces, these two privacy advocates will pool their resources to focus on what matters most: ensuring that activists, journalists, other at-risk and everyday users will have access to improved digital security tools.”

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    Lily Hay Newman

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  • Israel says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed by strike in Lebanon’s capital Beirut

    Israel says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed by strike in Lebanon’s capital Beirut

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    Israel’s military said Saturday that it had killed the overall leader of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in an airstrike the previous day on the group’s “central headquarters” in Beirut, Lebanon. The Friday afternoon strike was the latest in a series of massive explosions targeting leaders of the militant group, which has been firing rockets and drones across Lebanon’s southern border into Israel for almost a year.

    The Israel Defense Forces said in a Saturday statement that Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, “was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders” in a strike by Israeli fighter jets on the group’s command facility “embedded under a residential building” in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have long been a stronghold of the U.S.-designated terrorist group.

    “The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF said.

    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon, Sept. 19, 2024.

    Aziz Taher / REUTERS


    The Friday strikes leveled multiple high-rise apartment buildings in the biggest blasts to hit the Lebanese capital since Hezbollah started firing on Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in response to Israel launching its war on the group’s Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip. 

    At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded in the strike, Lebanon’s health ministry said Friday, noting that the toll could rise as people were believed to be buried under rubble at the site.

    A senior Israeli official said Friday that the IDF had sought to minimize civilian casualties by striking in the daytime, when many people wouldn’t be home. He said Israel was not seeking a broader regional war, but that Hezbollah’s military capabilities had been meaningfully degraded by the recent series of Israeli military operations and that the objective of the strike was to leave Hezbollah with a significant leadership gap. 

    People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut
    People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024.

    Mohamed Azakir / REUTERS


    In a possible early sign of the strikes’ significance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States to return home on Friday instead of waiting until the end of Sabbath on Saturday evening, his office said. Israeli politicians do not normally travel on the Sabbath except for matters of great import.

    Hours earlier, Netanyahu addressed the U.N., vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. Several delegates stood up and walked out before he gave his address. 

    To a degree unseen in past conflicts, Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he was huddling with the head of Israel’s air force and other top commanders at military headquarters, following updates.

    In a separate statement Saturday, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said Nasrallah’s killing  demonstrated “anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel — we will know how to reach them.” 

    The series of gigantic blasts around nightfall on Friday reduced six buildings to rubble in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. The shock wave rattled windows and shook houses some 18 miles north of Beirut. TV footage showed several craters — one with a car toppled into it — amid collapsed buildings in the densely populated, predominantly Shiite neighborhood.

    Smoke rises above buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video. 

    Social media image /via REUTERS


    Nasrallah had been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public. He regularly gave speeches, but always by video from unknown locations. The site hit Friday evening had not been publicly known as Hezbollah’s main headquarters, though it is located in the group’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and runs several nearby hospitals.

    The Pentagon said the U.S. had no advance warning of the strikes.

    The White House said President Biden was briefed by his national security team “several times” on Friday and “has directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary U.S. force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support the full range of U.S. objectives. He has also directed his team to ensure that U.S. embassies in the region take all protective measures as appropriate.”

    “The events of the past week and the past few hours underscore what a precarious moment this is for the Middle East and for the world,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference Friday in New York. “Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. The way it does so matters. The choices that all parties make in the coming days will determine which path this region is on, with profound consequences for its people now and possibly for years to come.” 

    Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is determined to put an end to more than 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory. The scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, but officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility. Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border in preparation.

    Israel’s strikes this week have killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to Health Ministry statistics.

    A predawn strike Friday in the mainly Sunni border town of Chebaa hit a home, killing nine members of the same family, the state news agency said. A resident identified the dead as Hussein Zahra, his wife Ratiba, their five children and two of their grandchildren.

    At the U.N., Netanyahu vowed to “continue degrading Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals. His comments dampened hopes for a U.S.-backed call for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah has not responded to the proposal.


    Netanyahu addresses United Nations as Israel continues targeting Hezbollah

    07:46

    Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people in Israel and take 251 hostage. Since then, Hezbollah and the Israeli military have traded fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.

    An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza, because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.

    In Gaza, Israel aims to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime, but the goal in Lebanon is to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel — “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to military briefing guidelines.

    Olivia Gazis

    contributed to this report.

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  • Iran was behind thousands of text messages calling for revenge over Quran burnings, Sweden says

    Iran was behind thousands of text messages calling for revenge over Quran burnings, Sweden says

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    COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish authorities accused Iran on Tuesday of being responsible for thousands of text messages sent to people in Sweden calling for revenge over the burnings of Islam’s holy book in 2023. Iran denied the accusation.

    According to officials in Stockholm, the cyberattack was carried out by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which hacked an SMS service and sent “some 15,000 text messages in Swedish” over the string of public burnings of the Quran that took place over several months in Sweden during the summer of 2023.

    Senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said a preliminary investigation by Sweden’s SAPO domestic security agency showed “it was the Iranian state via the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, that carried out a data breach at a Swedish company that runs a major SMS service.”

    The Swedish company was not named.

    The Iranian Embassy in Sweden in a statement rejected the accusation as “baseless” and said it was intended to “poison” relations between Tehran and Stockholm, the official IRNA news agency reported. The embassy expects the Swedish government to prevent the spread of such statements, the report said.

    In August 2023, Swedish media reported that a large number of people in Sweden had received text messages in Swedish calling for revenge against people who were burning the Quran, Ljungqvist said, adding that the sender of the messages was “a group calling itself the Anzu team.”

    Swedish broadcaster SVT published a photo of a text message, saying that “those who desecrated the Quran must have their work covered in ashes” and calling Swedes “demons.”

    The protests were held under the freedom of speech act, which is protected under the Swedish constitution. The rallies were approved by police. However, the incidents left Sweden torn between its commitment to free speech and its respect for religious minorities.

    The clash of fundamental principles had complicated Sweden’s desire to join NATO, an expansion that gained urgency after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but needed the approval of all alliance members.

    Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had temporarily blocked Sweden’s accession, citing reasons including anti-Turkish and anti-Islamic protests in Stockholm but Sweden finally became a NATO member in March.

    At the time, the Swedish government said it “strongly rejects the Islamophobic act committed by individuals in Sweden,” adding that the desecrations did not reflect the country’s stand.

    In July last year, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement saying that “the insult to the Holy Quran in Sweden is a bitter, conspiratorial, dangerous event” and that the desecrations have “created feelings of hatred and enmity” in Muslim nations toward the people burning the Quran and their governments.

    In a separate statement, SAPO’s operational manager Fredrik Hallström said Tuesday that the intent of the text messages was to “paint the image of Sweden as an Islamophobic country and create division in society.”

    He accused “foreign powers” of seeking to “exploit vulnerabilities” and said they were “now acting more and more aggressively, and this is a development that is likely to escalate.” He did not name any specific country.

    Meanwhile, Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, told Swedish news agency TT “that a state actor, in this case Iran, according to (SAPO’s) assessment is behind an action that aims to destabilize Sweden or increase polarization in our country is of course very serious.”

    There is no law in Sweden specifically prohibiting the burning or desecration of the Quran or other religious texts. Like many Western countries, Sweden doesn’t have any blasphemy laws.

    “Since the actors are acting for a foreign power, in this case Iran, we make the assessment that the conditions for prosecution abroad or extradition to Sweden are lacking for the persons suspected of being behind the breach,“ Ljungqvist said.

    Ljungqvist, who is with the Sweden’s top prosecution authority, said that although the preliminary investigation has been closed, it “does not mean that the suspected hackers have been completely written off” and that the probe could be reopened.

    Sweden’s domestic security agency in May accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish interests in the Scandinavian country.

    Iran’s Embassy in Sweden could not be reached for a comment on Tuesday.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.

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  • Israel launches deadly strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, warns people in Beirut and elsewhere to evacuate

    Israel launches deadly strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, warns people in Beirut and elsewhere to evacuate

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    Missiles slammed into southern Lebanon, shattering the early-morning silence Monday and reportedly killing more than 490 people as Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah weapons hidden in residential buildings. The explosions came as Israel heralded a new wave of attacks on the Iran-backed group in Lebanon, warning civilians to flee from any buildings or areas where the organization had weapons or fighters positioned.

    Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 people, The Associated Press reported. Monday marked the deadliest day of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006. The death toll also surpassed the deaths from the 2020 explosion at the Port of Beirut that killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands and devastated entire neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital.

    Israel’s military said at least 35 more rockets or drones were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, many of which fell in open areas or were intercepted. Israeli media said at least one man was injured amid the barrage.

    Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon
    Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23, 2024

    Aziz Taher/REUTERS


    The new crossfire came as Israel warned people in Lebanon — via automated phone calls, text messages and reportedly even Lebanese radio stations hacked into by its military — to avoid buildings used by Hezbollah. 

    The IDF shared images online of what it said were secondary explosions following some of its strikes Monday in southern Lebanon, showing, it said, “Hezbollah’s weapons exploding inside homes.” 

    “Every house that we strike contains weapons — rockets, missiles, UAVs — that are intended to kill Israeli civilians,” the IDF said. It said 300 separate Hezbollah targets were hit in its Monday morning airstrikes in Lebanon.

    President Joe Biden said on Monday that the U.S. was trying to calm the situation in Lebanon.

    “I’ve been briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon. My team is in constant contact with their counterparts, and we’re working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely,” Mr. Biden said as he held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the White House.

    Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Monday the U.S. is sending additional troops to the Middle East. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The U.S. currently has about 40,000 troops in the region.

    The new violence came after a weekend of increasingly deadly crossfire between the two bitter enemies in the heart of the Middle East. 

    Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets in one salvo Saturday night, sending them hurtling deeper into northern Israel and “toward civilian areas,” according to the Israeli military, wounding at least three people and spreading panic further into a region where many towns and villages have already been abandoned.

    In a video posted on social media, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Monday morning that raids on homes and other buildings being used by Hezbollah to hide and launch weapons in Lebanon would “begin soon,” warning residents to follow orders from the Israeli army to evacuate.

    “The raids will begin soon. Evacuate the houses where #Hezbollah has hidden weapons immediately,” Adraee said in the video, speaking Arabic. “Hezbollah is lying to you and sacrificing you.”

    “We are deepening our attacks in Lebanon, the actions will continue until we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said in his own video message, warning his nation of “days ahead of us when the public will have to show composure.” 

    The warning to Israelis was likely a reference to expected retaliation from Hezbollah or Iran’s other so-called proxy groups in the region.

    Map of Middle East showing Iran-backed groups including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon

    CBS News


    Lebanon’s state-run media said people in some parts of the capital Beirut and in southern areas of the country — both areas where Hezbollah has long enjoyed significant support — received automated phone messages warning them to evacuate. The French news agency AFP said someone in national Information Minister Ziad Makary’s office got one of the calls.

    The minister’s office told AFP that someone took a call on the office landline and heard a “recorded message” telling them to evacuate.

    The warnings about what appeared likely to be a significant intensification of Israel’s assault on Hezbollah came after a weekend of increased fire between the two sides over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed group is a powerful political and military force.


    Hezbollah responds to Israeli strikes with rocket strikes deep into Israel

    02:18

    Hezbollah started launching rocket and drone attacks on Israel as soon as Israel launched its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to that group’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Israel’s long-time arch rival Iran, and both have long been designated as terrorist groups by both the Israeli and U.S. governments.

    The IDF has stepped up strikes on purported Hezbollah targets across Lebanon for weeks, vowing to remove the threat they pose to enable the safe return of tens of thousands of residents from towns and villages in Israel’s northern border region who’ve been evacuated due to the cross-border fire.

    As Israel ramps up offensive operations against Hezbollah, it does so with wary U.S. support. The Biden administration has voiced concern for months about the tit-for-tat attacks by Israel and Hezbollah, simmering in parallel to the war in Gaza, escalating into a full-scale conflict. The concern is based largely on an assessment that a wider conflict in the Middle East will put U.S. troops increasingly in direct danger. Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have already targeted U.S. forces in the region with deadly drone fire during the Gaza war.

    U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke on Saturday and Sunday with Gallant amid the increasing hostilities, and he “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself,” according to a readout of the first call from the Pentagon, but he also “stressed the importance of achieving a diplomatic solution” to the crisis and “his concern for the safety and security of U.S. citizens in the region.”

    According to the readout of the Sunday night phone call, Austin “made clear that the United States remains postured to protect U.S. forces and personnel and determined to deter any regional actors from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict.”

    The long-feared escalation in violence between Israel and Hezbollah — which is a far larger and far better equipped militant group than its ally Hamas — started snowballing last week with Israel’s officially-unclaimed covert operations to blow up thousands of pagers and walkie talkies carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon. Those attacks killed about 40 people, including an unconfirmed number of Hezbollah figures and at least two children, according to Lebanese officials.

    Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah admitted the explosions were a “severe blow” to the group, and he accused Israel of not only violating “all red lines” with the attacks, but of a “declaration of war.”

    Israel hasn’t admitted to carrying out the complex attacks using rigged communications device, but CBS News learned that American officials were given a heads-up by Israel about 20 minutes before the operations began, though no specific details were shared about the methods to be used.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Tucker Reals

    Tucker Reals is CBSNews.com’s foreign editor, based in the CBS News London bureau. He has worked for CBS News since 2006, prior to which he worked for The Associated Press in Washington D.C. and London.

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  • Oscars: Dissident Iranian Filmmakers Call On AMPAS To Rethink Relationship With Iran’s Govt-Controlled Selection Body Farabi Amid Oppression

    Oscars: Dissident Iranian Filmmakers Call On AMPAS To Rethink Relationship With Iran’s Govt-Controlled Selection Body Farabi Amid Oppression

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    Dissident Iranian film professionals have reiterated calls to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to reconsider its relationship with Iran’s government-controlled Farabi cinema org which currently oversees the country’s Oscar submission process.

    “In a world where Iranian artists and filmmakers suffer under the oppression of the Islamic Republic government, it is alarming that Farabi, a state-controlled entity known for censorship and repression, is still permitted to select the representative of Iranian cinema for the Oscars,” the Independent Iranian Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) said in a statement.

    The org, which made the same request last year, issued the statement in the wake of Farabi’s announcement on Sunday that it had selected In The Arms of The Tree to represent Iran in the best international feature film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

    IIFMA was created in 2023 in response to the Woman Life Freedom movement which grew out of widespread popular protests across Iran in 2022, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was arrested for not wearing her veil in accordance with the country’s strict laws.

    “The Academy must reconsider its partnership with Farabi due to doubts about the integrity of their selections. Independent filmmakers face severe repercussions, including imprisonment and bans, for not aligning with the regime’s propaganda,” said the IIFMA.

    The statement comes just days after news broke that filmmakers Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha were continuing to be politically persecuted for their film My Favorite Cake, which world premiered in Berlin earlier this year after the directors defied pressure from the authorities to withdraw the film.

    The pair, who were slapped with a travel ban last the spring, had their passports returned over the summer but found themselves grounded again in early September as they tried to fly to Sweden where Moghadam has family and also holds nationality.

    Other directors caught in the crosshairs of the Iranian authorities in recent years include Ali Ahmadzadeh, who was also stopped from traveling after he refused to pull his film Critical Zone from Locarno, where it won the Golden Leopard, and Saeed Roustayi, who was sentenced to six months in jail in 2023 for showing his film Leila’s Brothers in Cannes without permission, sparking protests from the likes of Martin Scorsese.

    My Favorite Cake is among a raft of Iranian features to have played to acclaim on the international festival circuit this year but not taken into consideration by Farabi to be Iran’s 2025 Oscar entry because they do not meet with government approval.

    They also include Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which has since been selected to represent Germany, where the director is currently living in exile having fled a harsh flogging and prison sentence there.

    “Despite acclaim at international festivals, these filmmakers are denied the chance to showcase their work at the Academy Awards. It is crucial for the Academy to acknowledge the censorship in Iran and support independent filmmakers,” continued the IIFMA statement.

    “The Academy should reevaluate its association with Farabi and advocate for the representation of these filmmakers at the Oscars. The time for action is now to promote artistic freedom and human rights on a global platform,” it concluded.

    In the backdrop, IIFMA’s statement adds to a separate, but related, call to AMPAS to create an entry into the best international feature film category giving representation to exiled filmmakers, in a similar way in which the International Olympics Committee has gotten behind a refugee team made up of exiled sports people.

    The idea was first pushed by exiled Iranian-Kurdish director Bahman Ghobadi in 2021 and continues to gather momentum.

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    Melanie Goodfellow

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  • Iranian Hackers Tried to Give Hacked Trump Campaign Emails to Dems

    Iranian Hackers Tried to Give Hacked Trump Campaign Emails to Dems

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    The week was dominated by news that thousands of pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices were exploding across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday in an attack targeting the militant group Hezbollah. At least 32 people were killed, including at least four children, and more than 3,200 people were injured. The covert campaign has widely been attributed to Israel, though none of the country’s government agencies have commented.

    In addition to the carnage, the attacks have—seemingly by design—had the effect of sowing paranoia and fear, not just among members of Hezbollah but also in the general Lebanese public. Hardware and warfare experts say that the incident is unlikely to establish a global precedent that people’s most trusted communication devices and electronics, like smartphones, are rigged with explosives left and right. But it does create the potential to inspire copycats and puts defenders on notice that such attacks are possible.

    Researchers say that China’s 2023 Zhujian Cup, a hacking competition with ties to the country’s military, took the unusual step of requiring participants to keep the content of the exercise secret—and they may have been targeting a real victim as part of the event. Apple’s new stand-alone app Passwords that launched with iOS 18 may help solve your login problems. And a now-deleted post from billionaire Elon Musk that questioned why no one has attempted to assassinate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris renewed concerns this week that Musk is willing to inspire extremist violence and is a national security threat in the United States.

    And there’s more. Each week, we round up the privacy and security news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

    Last month, media outlets, Microsoft, and Google warned that an Iranian state-sponsored hacking group known as APT42 had targeted both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump political campaigns, and that it had successfully stolen emails from the Trump campaign that were later shared with reporters. Now the FBI has chimed in with the added revelation that the same hackers also sent those stolen Trump communications to the Democrats, too—though for now there’s no sign that the Democrats solicited those emails from the Iranians or necessarily even received the Iranians’ message.

    Republicans were nonetheless quick to compare the news to accusations that the Trump campaign “colluded” with the Russian hackers, part of the Kremlin’s GRU military intelligence agency, who breached the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton Campaign in 2016 to carry out a hack-and-leak operation. In a statement, the Trump campaign demanded that the Democrats “must come clean on whether they used the hacked material.” The Harris campaign told CNN that it has cooperated with law enforcement and that it was “not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign,” believing the emails to be spam or phishing attempts. “We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in US elections, including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity,” Morgan Finkelstein, the national security spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told CNN.

    The FBI announced this week that it had taken down a network of hacked machines being secretly controlled by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as Flax Typhoon. The botnet, made up of 260,000 routers and internet-of-things devices, was allegedly being run by a Chinese contractor known as the Beijing Integrity Technology Group, a rare instance of a known, publicly traded company operating essentially a massive collection of hacked devices on behalf of the Chinese state. The botnet, according to the FBI and security firm Black Lotus Labs, had been used to hack government agencies, defense contractors, telecoms, and other US and Taiwanese targets. At the time of its takedown, the botnet still encompassed 60,000 machines, making it the largest Chinese state-sponsored botnet ever, according to Black Lotus Labs.

    On Wednesday night, two young men were arrested after they allegedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars of cryptocurrency and spent the earnings on luxury cars, watches, jewelry, and designer handbags. In an unsealed indictment, the US Department of Justice charged Malone Lam, 20, known online as “Anne Hathaway” and Jeandiel Serrano, 21, aka “VersaceGod,” with stealing $243 million in cryptocurrency and laundering the proceeds through mixing services to conceal the origin.

    CoinDesk reported that the men allegedly tricked the heist’s victim, a creditor of the now-defunct trading firm Genesis, using a social engineering scam that led them to reset their Gemini two-factor authentication and transfer 4,100 bitcoin to a compromised wallet. An analysis of the transaction by blockchain investigator ZachXBT revealed that the $243 million was divided among multiple wallets and then distributed to over 15 exchanges.

    On Thursday, TechCrunch reported that Apple’s latest desktop operating system update, macOS 15 (Sequoia), breaks some functionality of major security tools made by CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, and Microsoft. It’s unclear what specifically in the update is causing the issues, but social media posts and internal Slack messages reviewed by the tech outlet show that the update has frustrated engineers working on macOS-focused security tools.

    A CrowdStrike sales engineer informed colleagues via Slack, as seen by TechCrunch, that the company would not be able to support Sequoia on day one, despite its usual practice of quickly supporting new OS releases. While they hope for a quick patch, they will likely need to scramble to resolve the issue with an update in their own code, assuming no immediate fix is available from Apple, which has not yet commented on the issue.

    Cryptocurrency theft has become practically a common-garden form of cybercrime. But one brutal gang took that form of thievery to a new level of cruelty and violence, breaking into a series of victims’ homes to threaten and extort them into handing over their crypto holdings, sometimes even resorting to kidnapping and torture. This week, that disturbing story came to a close with the sentencing of the group’s ring leader, a Florida man named Remy St. Felix, to 47 years in prison. St. Felix is one of 12 members of the gang to have now been charged, convicted, and sentenced. Prior to the home invasions that St. Felix led, another member of the group named Jarod Seemungal allegedly stole millions with more traditional crypto hacking techniques. But St. Felix’s more violent, offline extortion attempts netted his gang only around $150,000 in cryptocurrency before they were caught and sentenced to years behind bars. The lesson: Crime doesn’t pay—or at least, not the physical kind.

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    Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman, Dhruv Mehrotra

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  • Iranian hackers sent stolen Trump campaign info to Biden campaign associates, FBI says

    Iranian hackers sent stolen Trump campaign info to Biden campaign associates, FBI says

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    Iranian hackers sought to interest President Biden’s campaign in information stolen from the rival campaign of former President Donald Trump, sending unsolicited emails to people connected to the Democratic president in an effort to interfere in the 2024 election, the FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday.

    There’s no evidence that any of the recipients responded, officials said, preventing the hacked information from surfacing in the final months of the closely contested election.

    The hackers sent emails in late June and early July to people who were associated with Mr. Biden’s campaign before he dropped out. The emails “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” according to a U.S. government statement.

    In late July, officials with the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security said that Tehran had started a campaign that was working to weaken Trump’s candidacy, while Russia was attempting to do the opposite.

    Last month, sources told CBS News that the FBI was investigating whether Iranian hackers had targeted people associated with both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns.

    In response to the revelation, Harris campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein told CBS News in a statement Wednesday evening that “we’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign,” adding that “a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt.”

    Finkelstein said the campaign has “cooperated with the appropriate law enforcement authorities since we were made aware that individuals associated with the then-Biden campaign were among the intended victims of this foreign influence operation.”

    Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told CBS News in a statement that “this is further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror.”

    A Microsoft threat intelligence report last month provided examples about the actions of Iranian groups seeking to influence the 2024 election.  

    “Not surprisingly, the latest revelations confirm that Iran’s efforts are multi-pronged and intended to damage the Trump campaign,” Chris Krebs, former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director, told CBS News Wednesday. “This comes on the same day as a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on foreign threats to elections. In that hearing Microsoft President Brad Smith characterized the state of foreign interference as Russia vs Harris and Iran vs Trump.”  

    The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. At least three news outlets — Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post — were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what it received.

    Politico reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source —an AOL email account identified only as “Robert”— passed along what appeared to be a research dossier that the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

    A spokesperson for Iran’s permanent mission to the U.N. told CBS News in a statement Wednesday that the FBI’s “allegations” were “fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible.”

    “Having already unequivocally and repeatedly announced, Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the U.S. election; and, it therefore categorically repudiates such accusations,” the statement read. “Should the U.S. government genuinely seek the truth, it is incumbent upon them to formally and transparently provide their substantiated evidence, so as to receive a corresponding and precise response.”

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  • The Mystery of Hezbollah’s Deadly Exploding Pagers

    The Mystery of Hezbollah’s Deadly Exploding Pagers

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    The AP-900 runs on two AAA batteries, which, like any battery, could be induced to explode, but likely not with such force and scale as the explosions depicted in alleged videos of the blasts. If the pagers used by Hezbollah are the AR-924 or another model that runs on lithium-ion batteries, which can cause more dangerous explosions, it’s still unlikely that a regular pager battery alone could produce blasts that could injure multiple people.

    “Those explosions aren’t just batteries,” says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. “Based on the reporting, these pagers were likely interdicted by Israeli authorities and modified with explosives. This highlights the risks of supply chain security, especially in places where technology is harder to ship to.”

    Gold Apollo did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

    Williams points out that such an operation would likely involve operatives on both the tech distribution side and the Hezbollah procurement side. “You compromise the supply chain, but you don’t want thousands of explosive pagers running around Lebanon,” he says. “The mole gets them to exactly the right people.”

    Some reports on Tuesday indicate that Hezbollah recently expanded its use of pagers in an attempt to secure communications after other channels had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. The Associated Press reported that an anonymous “Hezbollah official” said the group had recently adopted a “new brand” of pagers that “first heated up, then exploded.”

    “It’s unlikely that hacking was involved, as it’s likely that explosive material had to be inside the pagers to cause such an effect,” says Lukasz Olejnik, an independent consultant and visiting senior research fellow at King’s College London’s Department of War Studies. “Reports mention the delivery of new pagers recently, so perhaps the delivery was compromised.”

    Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at Middle East and North Africa risk management company Le Beck International, says if the attack is supply-chain-based, then it could have taken years to prepare and involved infiltrating a supplier and placing explosives inside new pagers.

    “This is a major security breach, particularly if we’re talking about a charge that was placed inside the devices—which, in my opinion, is the most likely scenario,” Horowitz says. “This would mean that Israel has managed to infiltrate Hezbollah providers to the point of delivering hundreds (if not thousands) of devices used for secured communication.”

    The incident comes amid escalations of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in recent months, raising fears of a full-blown war. In the hours before the explosions on Tuesday, Israel said its war goals would include allowing 60,000 people to return to Northern Israel after they were evacuated following Hezbollah attacks, and it would not rule out military action.

    Horowitz says the incident could be a “prelude to a broader offensive” and possibly meant to disrupt Hezbollah’s communications networks. It is likely that replacing a large number of pagers would take some time to organize. Alternatively, Horowitz says, the attack could also have been conducted to show the “scale of Israel’s intelligence penetration.”

    “This is a high-value operation that you wouldn’t use just to cause injuries,” Horowitz says.

    Even if the blasts were not caused by a cyber-physical attack that induced the pager batteries to explode, it’s still possible that explosives planted in the pagers were detonated using a remote command, possibly even a specially crafted pager message. Some footage appeared to show users checking their pagers right as the explosions occurred, though this could have been coincidental.

    The operation could have a psychological impact on Hezbollah given that bombs may have been lurking undetected in such an unassuming device. And though Tuesday’s attacks were notably aggressive, it would not be the first time Israeli intelligence has reportedly planted explosives in electronics.

    Updated at 3:25 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about potential ways the attack could have been carried out.

    Updated at 3:40 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about the pager model that may have been used in the attack.

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    Lily Hay Newman, Matt Burgess

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  • Iran says it successfully launched a satellite into orbit

    Iran says it successfully launched a satellite into orbit

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    Iran launched a satellite into space Saturday with a rocket built by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the latest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.Related video above: Boeing Starliner test pilot Suni Williams to become ISS commander on unexpectedly long stay Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch’s success, nor did Iranian authorities immediately provide footage or other details.The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the wider Middle East over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone attack on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts about Tehran’s program.Iran identified the satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, which the Guard used in January for another successful launch. Qaem means “upright” in Iran’s Farsi language. The solid-fuel rocket put the Chamran-1 satellite, weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds), into a 550-kilometer (340-mile) orbit, state media reported.The U.S. State Department and the American military did not immediately respond to requests for comment over the Iranian launch.The United States had previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.Under Iran’s relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West. Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, has pushed the program forward. Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.It’s unclear what Iran’s new president, the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, wants for the program as he was silent on the issue while campaigning.The U.S. intelligence community’s worldwide threat assessment this year said Iran’s development of satellite launch vehicles “would shorten the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly has warned.Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.The launch also came ahead of the second anniversary of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide protests against Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, law and the country’s Shiite theocracy.___Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

    TEHRAN, Iran (AP) —

    Iran launched a satellite into space Saturday with a rocket built by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the latest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.

    Related video above: Boeing Starliner test pilot Suni Williams to become ISS commander on unexpectedly long stay

    Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch’s success, nor did Iranian authorities immediately provide footage or other details.

    The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the wider Middle East over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone attack on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts about Tehran’s program.

    Iran identified the satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, which the Guard used in January for another successful launch. Qaem means “upright” in Iran’s Farsi language. The solid-fuel rocket put the Chamran-1 satellite, weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds), into a 550-kilometer (340-mile) orbit, state media reported.

    The U.S. State Department and the American military did not immediately respond to requests for comment over the Iranian launch.

    The United States had previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.

    Under Iran’s relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West. Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, has pushed the program forward. Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.

    It’s unclear what Iran’s new president, the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, wants for the program as he was silent on the issue while campaigning.

    The U.S. intelligence community’s worldwide threat assessment this year said Iran’s development of satellite launch vehicles “would shorten the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.

    Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly has warned.

    Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.

    The launch also came ahead of the second anniversary of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide protests against Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, law and the country’s Shiite theocracy.

    ___

    Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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  • Cause of helicopter crash that killed Iran’s president, foreign minister revealed in new report

    Cause of helicopter crash that killed Iran’s president, foreign minister revealed in new report

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    According to the report, there were no signs of sabotage in parts and systems.

    Monday, September 2, 2024 8:55AM

    Iran's President Raisi dead in helicopter crash, Iranian state media reports

    Iranian state television said President Ebrahim Raisi and others were found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday.

    TEHRAN, Iran — An official investigation into the helicopter crash in May that killed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and seven other people found it was caused by challenging climatic and atmospheric conditions, Iranian state TV reported Sunday.

    The video featured is from a previous report.

    The final report of the Supreme Board of the General Staff of the Armed Forces said the main cause of the helicopter crash was the complex climatic conditions of the region in spring, state TV said.

    The report also cited the sudden appearance of a thick mass of dense fog rising upwards as the helicopter collided with the mountain.

    According to the report, there were no signs of sabotage in parts and systems.

    Raisi died alongside seven others including his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in the crash in a remote mountainous area in northwestern Iran.

    Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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  • France hands Telegram CEO Pavel Durov preliminary charges over alleged criminal activity on the app

    France hands Telegram CEO Pavel Durov preliminary charges over alleged criminal activity on the app

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    Paris — French authorities handed preliminary charges to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday for allowing alleged criminal activity on his messaging app and barred him from leaving France pending further investigation. Free-speech advocates and authoritarian governments have spoken in Durov’s defense since his weekend arrest, with the chief Kremlin spokesman in Moscow warning Thursday that the case must “not to run into political persecution.”  

    “We consider him a Russian citizen and as much as possible we will be ready to provide assistance,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that the Russian government would be “watching what happens next” in the case of the technology entrepreneur. Durov was born in Russia but left the country about a decade ago and now holds citizenship there, as well as in France, the United Arab Emirates and the small Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

    The case has called attention to the challenges of policing illegal activity online, and to Durov’s own unusual biography and multiple passports.

    Telegram Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov
    Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, is seen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 23, 2016.

    Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty


    Durov was detained Saturday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris as part of a sweeping investigation opened earlier this year. He was released earlier Wednesday after four days of questioning. Investigative judges filed preliminary charges Wednesday night and ordered him to pay 5 million euros (about $5.5 million) in bail and to report to a police station twice a week, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office.

    The Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed government official in the UAE as saying that country was “in touch with the French authorities about this case,” along with Durov’s representatives, adding that the welfare of UAE citizens was a priority and the government would provide assistance if required.

    The allegations against Telegram and Pavel Durov

    The French prosecutors’ allegations against Durov include that his platform is being used for criminal purposes, including the propagation of child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law. 

    CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams said it was important to note that French authorities have not claimed that Durov is or was personally involved in the alleged crimes. They argue instead that his company, which enables users to communicate through encrypted messages, making it difficult for authorities to monitor or review those communications, has not cooperated in other criminal investigations.  

    The first preliminary charge against him was for “complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group,” a crime that can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Preliminary charges under French law mean magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed but want to allow more time for further investigation.

    David-Olivier Kaminski, a lawyer for Durov, was quoted by French media as saying “it’s totally absurd to think that the person in charge of a social network could be implicated in criminal acts that don’t concern him, directly or indirectly.”

    Prosecutors said Durov was, “at this stage, the only person implicated in this case.” They did not exclude the possibility that other people were being investigated, but declined to comment on other possible arrest warrants. Any other arrest warrant would be revealed only if the target of such a warrant is detained and informed of their rights, prosecutors said in a statement to the AP.

    French authorities opened a preliminary investigation in February in response to “the near total absence of a response by Telegram to judicial requests″ for data for pursuing suspects, notably those accused of crimes against children, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Russia “ready” to help Durov amid its own crackdown on free speech

    Durov’s arrest in France has caused outrage in Russia, with some government officials calling it politically motivated and proof of the West’s double standard on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics as, in 2018, Russian authorities themselves tried to block the Telegram app but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.

    The Russian government has also implemented a wide range of new laws since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 making it illegal to iterate or publish virtually any criticism of the Kremlin’s military or the war, which it refers to as a special military operation.

    Hundreds of journalists and democracy advocates have fled Russia in recent years, and many others remain imprisoned on charges stemming from the draconian laws curbing free speech in the country. Russia has also detained a number of foreign journalists who have reported on the war, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was convicted on espionage charges before being freed in a prison swap at the beginning of August. The Journal and the U.S. government always dismissed the charges as baseless.


    Putin crackdown widens, Russian-American arrested and charged with treason

    04:11

    Kremlin spokesman Peskov said he hoped Durov “has all the necessary opportunities for his legal defense,” adding that Moscow stood “ready to provide all necessary assistance and support” to the Telegram CEO but acknowledging the “situation is complicated by the fact that he is also a citizen of France.”

    In Iran, where Telegram is widely used despite being officially banned after years of protests challenging the country’s Shiite theocracy, Durov’s arrest drew comments from the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued veiled praise for France for being “strict” against those who “violate your governance” of the internet.

    French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Monday that Durov’s arrest wasn’t a political move but part of an independent law enforcement investigation. Macron said in post on X that his country “is deeply committed” to freedom of expression, but that “freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”

    The history of Telegram and Pavel Durov in Russia

    In a statement posted on its platform after Durov’s arrest, Telegram said it abides by EU laws, and its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.”

    “Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation,” it said.

    Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother after he himself faced pressure from Russian authorities. In 2013, he sold his stake in VKontakte, a popular Russian social networking site which he had launched in 2006.

    The company came under pressure during the Russian government’s crackdown following mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012.

    Durov had said authorities demanded the site take down online communities of Russian opposition activists, and later that it hand over personal data of users who took part in the 2013-2014 popular uprising in Ukraine, which eventually ousted a pro-Kremlin president.

    Durov said in a recent interview that he had turned down those demands and left the country.

    The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital space, and Telegram and its pro-privacy stance had offered a convenient way for Russians to communicate and share news.

    Telegram also continues to be a popular source of news in Ukraine, where both media outlets and officials use it to share information on the war and to deliver missile and air raid alerts. 

    Western governments have often criticized Telegram for a lack of content moderation.

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  • Iran claims Yemen’s Houthi rebels will allow rescuers to salvage oil tanker ablaze in Red Sea

    Iran claims Yemen’s Houthi rebels will allow rescuers to salvage oil tanker ablaze in Red Sea

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    UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to assist a Greek-flagged oil tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea “in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations claimed late Wednesday. However, the Houthis did not offer specific details and are believed to have blocked an earlier attempt to salvage the vessel and continue to attack shipping across the Red Sea.

    Last week’s attack on the Sounion marked the most serious assault in weeks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion in trade that typically passes through the region, as well as halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen.

    Iran’s U.N. mission said Wednesday that following the fire on the Sounion “and the subsequent environmental hazards,” several countries it didn’t identify reached out to the Houthis “requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area.”

    “Ansar Allah has consented to this,” the Iranian mission said, using another name for the Houthis. It offered no further details, nor did the Houthis, who have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea, detained aid workers, deployed child soldiers and cracked down on dissent since holding Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

    Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam, in comments carried by the Houthi-controlled SABA news agency, said late Wednesday that the attack showed how serious the rebels took their campaign against shipping.

    “After several international parties contacted us, especially the European ones, they were allowed to tow the burning oil ship Sounion,” Abdul-Salam said, without giving further details.

    The Pentagon said Tuesday that attempts by an unidentified “third party” to send two tugboats to the stricken Sounion were blocked by the Houthis. Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the Houthis’ actions demonstrate “their blatant disregard for not only human life, but also for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents.”

    Ryder said the Sounion appears to be leaking oil into the Red Sea, home to coral reefs and other natural habitats and wildlife. However, the European Union’s Operation Aspides, whose mission is to protect shipping in the area, said as recently as Wednesday the ship was not leaking oil.

    The Houthis in their campaign have seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.

    The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

    In the case of the Sounion, the Houthis have claimed the Greek company operating the vessel had other ships serving Israel. The Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational organization overseen by the U.S. Navy, assessed that the Sounion “has no direct association with Israel, U.S. or U.K. within the company business structure” though other ships had “visited Israel in the recent past.”

    ——

    Weissenstein reported from New York

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  • This Woman Secretly Tries to Stop War

    This Woman Secretly Tries to Stop War

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    Gabrielle Rifkind was trained as a group analyst and psychotherapist. Now she sits down with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and state actors in Ukraine and Russia, trying to end global conflicts.

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    Maria Streshinsky

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  • Iran Hacked Trump’s Campaign and Tried to Hack the Harris Campaign Too

    Iran Hacked Trump’s Campaign and Tried to Hack the Harris Campaign Too

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    WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials said Monday they were confident that Iran was responsible for the hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, casting the cyber intrusion as part of a brazen and broader effort by Tehran to interfere in American politics and potentially shape the outcome of the election.

    The assessment from the FBI and other federal agencies was the first time the U.S. government has assigned blame for hacks that have raised anew the threat of foreign election interference. The hacking also underscored how Iran, in addition to more sophisticated adversaries like Russia and China, remains a top concern to U.S. officials tasked with protecting democratic processes.

    Besides breaching the Trump campaign, officials also believe that Iran tried to hack into the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris.

    Read More: The Truth About Iran’s Efforts to Promote Gaza Protests

    The hacking and similar activities, federal officials said, reflect Iran’s determination to “complicate the ability of any U.S. administration to pursue a foreign policy at odds” with its own interests. The goal is to sow discord, weaken faith in democratic institutions and influence the outcome of elections that Iran perceives to be “particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests,” officials said.

    “We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting Presidential campaigns,” said the statement released by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations denied the hacks, saying that Iran had neither the motive nor intention to interfere with the election, and challenged the U.S. to provide evidence.

    The statement was released at a time of significant tensions between Washington and Tehran as the U.S. hopes to halt or limit a threatened threatened retaliatory strike on Israel over the assassination of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh. An Israeli strike last month in southern Beirut killed Hezbollah’s top commander, but while Tehran and Iran-backed Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate, they have not yet launched strikes as diplomatic endeavors and Gaza cease-fire talks continue in Qatar.

    Read More: What Haniyeh’s Assassination Means for a Gaza Ceasefire

    The U.S. did not detail how it reached the conclusion that Iran was responsible, nor did it describe the nature of any information that may have been taken from the Trump campaign. But it said the intelligence community was confident “the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the Presidential campaigns of both political parties.”

    At least three staffers in the Biden-Harris campaign were targeted with phishing emails, but investigators have uncovered no evidence the attempt was successful, the Associated Press reported last week.

    “Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process. It is important to note that this approach is not new. Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world,” the statement said.

    The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. At least three news outlets—Politico, the New York Times and the Washington Post—were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign, including its report vetting J.D. Vance as a vice presidential candidate. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what it received.

    Read More: Clinton Alumni Fume at ‘Double Standard’ of Trump Treatment After Hack

    Earlier this month, Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in this year’s election, citing an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.”

    In a separate report, Google said an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Joe Biden and Trump since May.

    —Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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  • What we know about suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in the US presidential race

    What we know about suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in the US presidential race

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Details emerged over the weekend of a suspected Iranian cyber intrusion into the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, potentially resulting in the theft of internal campaign documents.

    The FBI is investigating the matter as well as attempts to infiltrate President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, which became Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign after Biden dropped out of the race.

    Here’s what we know:

    What happened?

    Trump’s presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame.

    The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, from a person only identified as “Robert.” The outlet said the documents included vetting materials on Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio, who also was considered as a potential vice president.

    Two other news outlets, The New York Times and The Washington Post, also said they received leaked materials. None of them revealed details about what they had, instead describing the documents in broad terms.

    It’s still unclear whether the materials the news outlets received were related to Trump’s alleged campaign hack. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung indicated they were connected, saying the documents “were obtained illegally” and warning that “any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

    The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.

    Why is Trump blaming Iran?

    Trump’s campaign didn’t provide specific evidence showing Iran was behind the hack. But it pointed to a Microsoft report released Friday that detailed an Iranian attempt to infiltrate a presidential campaign in June.

    Microsoft’s report said an Iranian military intelligence unit had sent “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.” Spear-phishing is a form of cyberattack in which an attacker poses as a known or trusted sender, often to install malware or gather sensitive information.

    The tech company wouldn’t disclose which campaign or adviser was targeted, but said it had notified them. Since then, both Trump and a longtime friend and adviser of the former president, Roger Stone, have said they were contacted by Microsoft related to suspected cyber intrusions.

    “We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government – Never a nice thing to do!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

    Grant Smith, an attorney for Stone, said his client “was contacted by Microsoft and the FBI regarding this matter and continues to cooperate with these organizations.” He declined further comment.

    What does the government say?

    U.S. State Department officials declined to speculate on allegations that Iran was behind the hack, but a spokesperson said it would be in keeping with Tehran’s past use of cyberattacks and deception.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    “These latest attempts to interfere in U.S. elections are nothing new for the Iranian regime,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday.

    U.S. intelligence officials declined to comment on the incident and referred questions to the FBI, which has said only that it’s investigating.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved.

    “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

    However, Iran long has been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also has threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

    Was Harris targeted too?

    Harris’ campaign has declined to say whether it has identified any state-based intrusion attempts, only saying it vigilantly monitors cyber threats and wasn’t aware of any security breaches of its systems.

    But two people familiar with the matter said the Biden-Harris campaign also was targeted in the suspected Iranian cyber intrusion. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the investigation.

    At least three staffers in the Biden-Harris campaign were targeted with phishing emails, but investigators have uncovered no evidence the attempt was successful, one of the people said. The attempts came before Biden dropped out of the race.

    The FBI began investigating that cyber incident in June, and intelligence officials believe Iran was behind the attempts, that person said.

    Where have I heard this before?

    A suspected foreign hack-and-leak of campaign materials might sound familiar because it’s happened before — notably in 2016.

    That year, a Russian hack exposed emails to and from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta. The website Wikileaks published a trove of the messages, which were reported on extensively by news outlets.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday noted the repeated use of the tactic against the U.S. and said it shows foreign adversaries are “intent on sowing chaos and undermining our democratic process.”

    “So we have to stand firm to ensure our cybersecurity can withstand such intrusions as we head into November,” he said in a statement.

    Experts say that the recent apparent hack of the Trump campaign is not likely to be the last such attempt to influence the U.S. election, either through cyberattacks or online disinformation. Both Iran and Russia, for example, have begun targeting Americans with fake news websites and other social media content that appears intended to sway voters, Microsoft and U.S. intelligence officials have said.

    The nation’s former top election security official, Chris Krebs, warned on the social platform X that Americans should take this threat seriously.

    “You might not like the victim here, but the adversary gives zero Fs who you like or don’t like,” he said of the Trump campaign hack. “American voters decide American elections. Let’s keep it that way.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, David Klepper and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Google confirms an Iranian group is trying to access emails linked to both US presidential campaigns

    Google confirms an Iranian group is trying to access emails linked to both US presidential campaigns

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Google said Wednesday that an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump since May.

    The tech company’s threat intelligence arm said the group is still actively targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democratic candidate last month when he dropped out. It said those targeted have included current and former government officials, as well as presidential campaign affiliates.

    The new report from Google’s Threat Analysis Group affirms and expands on a Microsoft report released Friday that revealed suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in this year’s U.S. presidential election. It sheds light on how foreign adversaries are ramping up their efforts to disrupt the election that is now less than three months away.

    Google’s report said its threat researchers detected and disrupted a “small but steady cadence” of the Iranian attackers using email credential phishing, a type of cyberattack where the attacker poses as a trusted sender to try to get an email recipient to share their login details. John Hultquist, chief analyst for the company’s threat intelligence arm, said the company sends suspected targets of these attacks a Gmail popup that warns them that a government-backed attacker might be trying to steal their password.

    The report said Google observed the group gaining access to one high-profile political consultant’s personal Gmail account. Google reported the incident to the FBI in July. Microsoft’s Friday report had shared similar information, noting that the email account of a former senior adviser to a presidential campaign had been compromised and weaponized to send a phishing email to a high-ranking campaign official.

    The group is familiar to Google’s threat intelligence arm and other researchers, and this isn’t the first time it has tried to interfere in U.S. elections, Hultquist said. The report noted that the same Iranian group targeted both the Biden and Trump campaigns with phishing attacks during the 2020 cycle, as early as June of that year.

    The group also has been prolific in other cyber espionage activity, particularly in the Middle East, the report said. In recent months, as the Israel-Hamas War has aggravated tensions in the region, that activity has included email phishing campaigns targeted at Israeli diplomats, academics, non-governmental organizations and military affiliates.

    Trump’s campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame.

    The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, though it wasn’t clear whether the leaked documents were related to the suspected Iranian cyber activity. The Washington Post and The New York Times also received the documents.

    While the Trump campaign hasn’t provided specific evidence linking Iran to the hack, both Trump and his longtime friend and former adviser Roger Stone have said they were contacted by Microsoft related to suspected cyber intrusions. Stone’s email was compromised by hackers targeting Trump’s campaign, a person familiar with the matter said.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Google and Microsoft wouldn’t identify the people targeted in the Iranian intrusion attempts or confirm that Stone was among them. Google did confirm that the Iranian group in its report, which it calls APT42, is the same as the one in Microsoft’s research. Microsoft refers to the group as Mint Sandstorm.

    Harris’ campaign has declined to say whether it has identified any state-based intrusion attempts, but has said it vigilantly monitors cyber threats and isn’t aware of any security breaches of its systems.

    The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.

    The reports of Iranian hacking come as U.S. intelligence officials have warned of persistent and mounting efforts from both Russia and Iran to influence the U.S. election through their online activity. Beyond these hacking incidents, groups linked to the countries have used fake news websites and social media accounts to churn out content that appears intended to sway voters’ opinions.

    While neither Microsoft nor Google specified Iran’s intentions in the U.S. presidential race, U.S. officials have previously hinted that Iran particularly opposes Trump. U.S. officials also have expressed alarm about Tehran’s efforts to seek retaliation for a 2020 strike on an Iranian general that was ordered by Trump.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved.

    “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

    The mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about Google’s report.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • ‘Chaos agent’: Suspected Trump hack comes as Iran flexes digital muscles ahead of US election

    ‘Chaos agent’: Suspected Trump hack comes as Iran flexes digital muscles ahead of US election

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — With less than three months before the U.S. election, Iran is intensifying its efforts to meddle in American politics, U.S. officials and private cybersecurity firms say, with the suspected hack of Donald Trump’s campaign being only the latest and most brazen example.

    Iran has long been described as a “chaos agent” when it comes to cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns and in recent months groups linked to the government in Tehran have covertly encouraged protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, impersonated American activists and created networks of fake news websites and social media accounts primed to spread false and misleading information to audiences in the U.S.

    While Russia and China remain bigger cyber threats against the U.S., experts and intelligence officials say Iran’s increasingly aggressive stance marks a significant escalation of efforts to confuse, deceive and frighten American voters ahead of the election.

    The pace will likely continue to increase as the election nears and America’s adversaries exploit the internet and advancements in artificial intelligence to sow discord and confusion.

    “We’re starting to really see that uptick and it makes sense, 90 days out from the election,” said Sean Minor, a former information warfare expert for the U.S. Army who now analyzes online threats for the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, which has seen a sharp increase in cyber operations from Iran and other nations. “As we get closer, we suspect that these networks will get more aggressive.”

    The FBI is investigating the suspected hack of the Trump campaign as well as efforts to infiltrate the campaign of President Joe Biden, which became Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign when Biden dropped out. Trump’s campaign announced Saturday that someone illegally accessed and retrieved internal documents, later distributed to three news outlets. The campaign blamed Iran, noting a recent Microsoft report revealing an attempt by Iranian military intelligence to hack into the systems of one of the presidential campaigns.

    “A lot of people think it was Iran. Probably was,” Trump said Tuesday on Univision before shrugging off the value of the leaked material. “I think it’s pretty boring information.”

    Iran has denied any involvement in the hack and said it has no interest in meddling with U.S. politics.

    That denial is disputed by U.S. intelligence officials and private cybersecurity firms who have linked Iran’s government and military to several recent campaigns targeting the U.S., saying they reflect Iran’s growing capabilities and its increasing willingness to use them.

    On Wednesday Google announced it had uncovered a group linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that it said had tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to Biden and Trump since May.

    The company, which contacted law enforcement with its suspicions, said the group is still targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Harris. It wasn’t clear whether the network identified by Google was connected to the attempt that Trump and Microsoft reported, or were part of a second attempt to infiltrate the campaign’s systems.

    Iran has a few different motives in seeking to influence U.S. elections, intelligence officials and cybersecurity analysts say. The country seeks to spread confusion and increase polarization in the U.S. while undermining support for Israel. Iran also aims to hurt candidates that it believes would increase tension between Washington and Tehran.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    That’s a description that fits Trump, whose administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of an Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.

    The two leaders of the Senate intelligence committee issued a joint letter on Wednesday warning Tehran and other governments hostile to the U.S. that attempts to deceive Americans or disrupt the election will not be tolerated.

    “There will be consequences to interfering in the American democratic process,” wrote the committee’s chairman, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, along with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice chairman.

    In 2021, federal authorities charged two Iranian nationals with attempting to interfere with the election the year before. As part of the plot, the men wrote emails claiming to be members of the far-right Proud Boys in which they threatened Democratic voters with violence.

    Last month, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said the Iranian government had covertly supported American protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Groups linked to Iran’s government also posed as online activists, encouraged campus protests and provided financial support to some protest groups, Haines said.

    Recent reports from Microsoft and Recorded Future have also linked Iran’s government to networks of fake news websites and social media accounts posing as Americans. The networks were discovered before they gained much influence and analysts say they may have been created ahead of time, to be activated in the weeks immediately before the election.

    The final weeks before an election may be the most dangerous when it comes to foreign efforts to impact voting. That’s when voters pay the most attention to politics and when false claims about candidates or voting can do the most damage.

    So-called ‘hack-and-leak’ attacks like the one reported by Trump’s campaign involve a hacker obtaining sensitive information from a private network and then releasing it, either to select individuals, the news media or to the public. Such attacks not only expose confidential information but can also raise questions about cybersecurity and the vulnerability of critical networks and systems.

    Especially concerning for elections, authorities say, would be an attack targeting a state or local election office that reveals sensitive information or disables election operations. Such an incursion could undermine trust in voting, even if the information exposed is worthless. Experts refer to this last possibility as a “perception hack,” when hackers steal information not because of its value, but because they want to flaunt their capabilities while spreading fear and confusion among their adversaries.

    “That can actually be more of a threat — the spectacle, the marketing this gives foreign adversaries — than the actual hack,” said Gavin Wilde, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former National Security Council analyst who specializes in cyber threats.

    In 2016, Russian hackers infiltrated Hillary Clinton’s campaign emails, ultimately obtaining and releasing some of the campaign’s most protected information in a hack-and-leak that upended the campaign in its final weeks.

    Recent advances in artificial intelligence have made it easier than ever to create and spread disinformation, including lifelike video and audio allowing hackers to impersonate someone and gain access to their organization’s systems. Nevertheless, the alleged hack of the Trump campaign reportedly involved much simpler techniques: someone gained access to an email account that lacked sufficient security protections.

    While people and organizations can take steps to minimize their vulnerability to hacks, nothing can eliminate the risk entirely, Wilde said, or completely reduce the likelihood that foreign adversaries will mount attacks on campaigns.

    “The tax we pay for being a digital society is that these hacks and leaks are unavoidable,” he said. “Whether you’re a business, a campaign or a government.”

    __

    Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report from New York.

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  • 8/15: CBS Evening News

    8/15: CBS Evening News

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    8/15: CBS Evening News – CBS News


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  • Diplomacy takes center stage as Iran holds off retaliation against Israel

    Diplomacy takes center stage as Iran holds off retaliation against Israel

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    Along with a surge of combat aircraft and warships, President Biden dispatched three of his top Mideast advisers, including CIA Director Bill Burns, to the region this week to try to delay Iranian and Hezbollah military retaliation against Israel, and to use that borrowed time to craft an offramp from the collision course that ultimately risks a regional war that could draw in U.S. forces. 

    U.S. assessments are that Iran will not seek to disrupt ongoing cease-fire negotiations in Doha aimed at ending the Hamas-Israel war. Those technical talks could stretch into the weekend, but it is unclear how long Iran and its proxies may hold off. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that an Iranian attack could come with “little or no warning, and certainly could come in the coming days.” 

    Both Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy force Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran two weeks ago and the July killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, but have not specified when or how. Israel said it killed Shukr in an airstrike. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that Israel was responsible for Haniyeh’s killing, though Israel has not publicly acknowledged it.

    But multiple sources in the region told CBS News that Iran’s government continues to internally debate whether to use military force as it did on April 13, when it launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel, or whether to conduct a covert intelligence operation. Sources also indicated to CBS that Hezbollah’s Lebanon-based leader, Hassan Nasrallah, does not want to act without Iran’s consent, but also does not seek a wider-scale conflict with Israel. The U.S. assesses that Hezbollah could launch an attack with little to no warning.

    The U.S. diplomacy, which includes indirect outreach to Tehran via other governments and to Hezbollah via politicians in Beirut, has been aimed at limiting the regional escalation risk. Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations told CBS News earlier this month that Hezbollah might not limit itself to military targets within Israel this time, suggesting the group could aim “broader and deeper” within Israeli territory at civilian targets. As of 2021, the CIA believed Hezbollah had an arsenal of up to 150,000 missiles and rockets, including some with long ranges that collectively have the potential to overwhelm Israel’s anti-missile defense system and could hit deep inside Israeli territory. 

    West Bank
    A column of Israeli military armored vehicles leave following a military operation in the West Bank town of Tubas on Aug. 14, 2024.

    Majdi Mohammed / AP


    At a press conference in Beirut Wednesday, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein indicated that the centerpiece of the Biden strategy is to use this narrow window of time to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a hostage release and cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip, which could then help avert a war in Lebanon after 10 months of cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah.

    In a furious effort to turn the Biden administration’s Gaza cease-fire framework into an actionable agreement, NSC Director Brett McGurk was in Cairo early this week and traveled on to Doha, Qatar, to help hammer out implementation details. With the U.S. acting as mediator, Burns led talks in Doha with Israel’s Mossad director David Barnea, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt’s intelligence director Abbas Kamel. 

    The U.S. is expected to present a final bridging proposal, which was described by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ultimately allowing for the release of all hostages, a vaccination campaign to stop the spread of polio, restoration of services including water and electricity to displaced Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and includes efforts to help halt fighting in Lebanon. Current numbers from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry indicate a grim milestone today of 40,000 Palestinians killed in the bloody 10-month war.

    If all of this fails, the U.S. also has a parallel plan similar to when Iran launched its April 13 attack on Israel, to defend Israel with the aid of allies. 

    During that spring attack, U.K. military jets were scrambled to help protect U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, who are stationed in the region as part of the anti-ISIS coalition presence. If a similar attack is launched by Iran this time around, the new U.K. government is expected to replicate its role. A U.K. official told CBS News, “Our core focus is diplomatic efforts and de-escalation. But as you’d expect, we also stand ready to defend Israel, and we remain in constant touch with the U.S. and allies on potential scenarios, including active support to backfill U.S. functions as we did in April.”

    A French official also told CBS News, “We’ve been calling on all actors in the region to de-escalate. Alongside the US, we maintain strong diplomatic and military coordination in the region and are helping support in assessing  and monitoring the situation.” 

    Parallel to the talks in Doha, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne was in Lebanon Thursday meeting government leaders, including those close to Hezbollah “to support the ongoing diplomatic efforts in favor of de-escalation in the region,” he stated on X.

    France Lebanon
    Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Sejourne in Beirut on Aug. 15, 2024, amid regional tensions during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

    JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images


    The timing of the Doha meeting, just four days before the start of the Democratic National Convention, also underscores the priority that the Biden-Harris administration is placing on ending the bloodshed and retrieving the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including five Americans still unaccounted for. The conflict has had a domestic political impact, and polling shows the humanitarian toll has particularly resonated among progressive, Black, Arab and Muslim American voters. The family of U.S. hostage Omer Neutra spoke at the Republican National Convention on July 17 to plead for more public pressure.  

    Charlie D’Agata,

    Eleanor Watson and

    Olivia Gazis

    contributed to this report.

    Margaret Brennan


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    Margaret Brennan is the moderator of “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan.” She is also the Network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent based in Washington, D.C.

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  • 8/14: CBS Evening News

    8/14: CBS Evening News

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